11.04.1955

Ruth Ellis is charged with shooting dead her fiancé

The evening before Ruth Ellis had waited outside a pub and then shot dead the cheating David Blakely as he emerged. She had then calmly asked for the police to be called and had awaited their arrival. This was less a European crime of passion than the calm execution of a philanderer by an English lady scorned. At 12:30 pm on 11 April 1955 she was charged with a murder for which she would enter English history... Read the full Ruth Ellis Crime File